Kiev: Interpol yesterday put Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovich on its global wanted list for alleged embezzlement that drained the ex-Soviet republic’s budget in his four years of pro-Russian rule.
The “red notice” alert for the 64-year-old comes nearly a year after a massive pro-European uprising in Kiev led to a deadly confrontation with police that forced him to flee for safety in Russia.
It also covers former prime minister Mykola Azarov and two other senior officials who escaped protest-riven Kiev in a government helicopter under the cover of darkness last February.
An Interpol “red notice” — the most urgent issued by the international criminal police group — requires governments “to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action”.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accused Moscow yesterday of violating international law by giving shelter to the most wanted man in Kiev.
“The Russian general prosecutor’s office is basically lying when it claims that it never received a request from its Ukrainian colleagues for the extradition of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich and other politicians,” Avakov wrote on Facebook.
A source close to the matter told Moscow’s Interfax news agency that Russia was unlikely to act on the extradition request.
Yanukovich — a hulking presence who spoke halting Ukrainian and grew up in the heavily Russified east of Ukraine — became deeply unpopular while in power for allegedly enriching family members.
His oldest son Oleksandr managed to build a fortune from coal estimated at $500m despite being a dentist by profession.
Oleksandr was also reported by Ukranian media to enjoy enormous political influence over his father and could handpick ministers and influence Kiev’s relations with both Russia and the European Union.
Subsequent probes led Ukraine’s prosecutor general in April to accuse Yanukovich and his allies of taking $32bn of state funds with them to Russia. AFP
